Gilbert Roybal Update

911 Tapes Suggest Delayed Treatment in Fiesta Weekend Death

The current issue of SFR has an update on the still-somewhat-mysterious death of Gilbert Roybal, the hair salon owner who was struck—apparently just once—on the street on Fiesta weekend, and died the next morning.

First, SFR reported witnesses' concerns that responding Santa Fe Police Department officers showed little apparent concern as to Roybal's welfare and may have missed their best chance to find his attacker.

Then, we reported the Santa Fe Fire Department's defense of its own medics' response, along with one 911 caller's fears, voiced to emergency personnel, that Roybal may have had a brain injury.

Now we're posting the audio of the calls related to Roybal received by the Santa Fe Regional Emergency Communications Center.

The calls suggest any errors that may have been made by local first responders might have been compounded by triage nurses or doctors at the hospital.

Citing its privacy policies, CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center has refused to explain when and how Roybal was treated after he arrived there. The time stamps on the calls provide a rough timeline of Roybal's treatment, from witnesses at the scene of his attack to doctors calling the SFRECC to gather more information about what exactly had happened to Roybal. The first call from the hospital came at 12:54 am—approximately five hours after Roybal was loaded into an ambulance.

There is disagreementwithinthe medicalfield about the existence of a so-called "golden hour" in which a trauma patient's life is most likely to be saved, but a long delay in treatment would certainly not have done the injured Roybal any favors. Here are the emergency calls from the hospital.

"I was told to call one of you guys if you could send an officer over here..." We've posted the rest of the 911 calls in reverse chronological order after the cut. Sept. 11, 8:57 pm — Roybal acquaintance to SFRCC

"Tonight I was basically physically attacked inside of the Eldorado hotel by a guy by the name of Gilbert Roybal who was just now beat up so severely that they're taking him to St. Vincent's Hospital..." Sept. 11, 8:46 pm — CPR-certified caller to SFRCC

"No paramedics yet... there’s absolutely no movement from that guy, and I’m just concerned about brain damage or bleeding or contusion in the brain or the head." Sept. 11, 8:43 pm — Unknown Caller C